President Donald Trump's relationship with cryptocurrency in 2025 went from skeptical to enthusiastic to financially entangled. He signed major legislation, created a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, dismantled regulatory barriers, and watched his family's crypto ventures rack up over $1 billion in profits. Critics weren't amused.
The Scam Artist Becomes the Bitcoin President
Trump's crypto evolution is one for the books. He went from calling Bitcoin (BTC) "a scam" to branding himself the "Bitcoin President" and positioning America as the global leader in digital assets against China.
"I noticed more and more you're paying Bitcoin. People are saying it takes a lot of pressure off the dollar. And it's a great thing for our country," Trump said in June.
But he also admitted in November: "I know very little about it, other than one thing. It's a huge industry."
His administration got busy quickly. They dismantled Biden-era crypto restrictions, withdrew SAB 121, closed over 10 SEC investigations, and pardoned Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao. Suddenly, crypto had friends in high places.
The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Arrives
On March 6, Trump signed an executive order establishing a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve using approximately 200,000 Bitcoin from government seizures, worth roughly $17 billion at the time.
White House Crypto Czar David Sacks called it a "digital Fort Knox" for Bitcoin. Coinbase Inc. (COIN) CEO Brian Armstrong called it "a historic moment for Bitcoin and crypto."
But here's the catch: Polymarket traders assigned almost zero probability the reserve would become operational in 2025. Contracts that started the year above 60% had dropped to just 2% by year-end.
Trump initially promised on March 2 to establish a crypto reserve featuring XRP (XRP), Ethereum (ETH), Solana (SOL), and Cardano (ADA). The final order designated these as "Stockpile Assets" only, meaning the government could hold or sell them but not purchase. Bitcoin emerged as the only cryptocurrency the U.S. could actively acquire.
The GENIUS Act Changes Everything
Trump signed the GENIUS Act on July 19, creating the first federal stablecoin framework requiring full dollar backing and annual audits.
The bill passed the Senate 68-30 after Trump held an Oval Office meeting with 11 Republican holdouts who flipped their votes following the House's procedural defeat. That's some effective arm-twisting.
Economist Lynette Zang warned the Act "changed the global monetary system" and could trigger hyperinflation. Others saw it as bringing much-needed regulatory clarity to the stablecoin market.
Crypto as a Weapon Against China
Trump framed crypto adoption as a battle for global dominance, warning "I want to make crypto great for America. I don't want China to be number one."
He claimed China was "getting big into crypto" despite China banning all digital-asset trading in September 2021 and Chinese miners' Bitcoin hashrate collapsing from over 70% to near-zero. Reality didn't quite match the rhetoric.
The Trump Family's $1 Billion Crypto Payday
Here's where things get interesting, or questionable, depending on your perspective.
World Liberty Financial (WLFI), Trump's family-backed DeFi platform, raised over $550 million by April with the Trump family owning 60%. The WLFI token debuted September 1, giving the family nearly $5 billion in paper wealth before dropping 28% from launch.
The Official TRUMP (TRUMP) meme coin hit $73.40 with a $14.5 billion market cap on inauguration day before crashing 84-87% to $12-$8 by mid-2025. That's a brutal comedown.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called Trump "the most corrupt president in our nation's history" and warned the GENIUS Act could "blow up our entire financial system."
Trump's 2025 crypto playbook delivered policy wins for the industry and financial wins for his family. Whether history remembers it as visionary leadership or unprecedented corruption probably depends on which side of the aisle you're sitting on.